Match days are just not the same these days as we took to our PCs, laptops and phones to iFollow the Wanderers against the Exiles from Newport County, a nickname earned when the reformed club were forbidden to play in Wales and had to restart over the border in Moreton-in-Marsh.

Today, it is the fans who feel they are the exiles as we cannot go the matches due to the lockdown and with this week’s abandonment of the trial return of fans to sporting events, we feel we are as far away as ever from returning to the terraces.

Maybe if we organised grouse shooting at half-time or arranged a protest, something we have been quite good at over recent years, we might be allowed in. Where did I put those tennis balls?

It has left us feeling down in Bolton and we were looking for a performance from Wanderers to lift our spirits and kick-start our season.

Ian Evatt brought George Taft in for Alex Baptiste and there was a pleasant surprise with two late signings on the bench, Arthur Gnahoua and Lloyd Isgrove.

We started slowly and Newport could have been out of sight in the first 20 minutes. But we weathered the storm and got back into the game and thought that we had equalised, only for Nathan Delfouneso’s goal to be harshly ruled out for a dubious handball.

When you are struggling, you need a bit of luck, but we are not getting it at the moment.

Inevitably, Newport went down the other end and sealed the match by twice taking advantage of our shaky defence.

It would be easy to criticise as we are struggling to get this season going but now is not the time.

We need to stick together as one club, one community, one town to get through this period, both on and off the pitch.

The Community Trust, for example, are doing great things to help the people of Bolton.

It is difficult to show our support in person because of the lockdown but we can show our support through social media.

Away from the game, most fans will have fond memories of club stalwart Andrew Dean, who it was announced had left Wanderers earlier this month. 

I will always appreciate that even during the dark days when he was not getting paid, he still took the time on cold, dark mornings, to see the fans off on the official coaches.

I sincerely wish Andrew a happy and healthy retirement.